Thursday, March 15, 2012

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is scheduled to enter his plea of guilty to false imprisonment of wife Eliana Lopez in court on Monday, wrapping up the deal in which domestic violence charges were dropped against him. But wait. DA George Gascon is having second thoughts about whether Mirkarimi really believes he’s guilty, and evidently doesn’t want to hear the sheriff carp later that he copped the plea only because his back was to the wall. Here’s an excerpt from Rachel Gordon’s story in the Chronicle:

"There is a guilty plea here and I know there's almost an attempt (by Mirkarimi) to deny that this has occurred: 'I didn't really do this. I'm being forced to do this.' That's very concerning to me, to be very honest with you," Gascón said in a meeting with The Chronicle editorial board.

"We're going to address this on Monday because we're not in the custom, not in the habit, of taking a guilty plea from somebody who is not guilty," he added. "If the defendant in this case believes he is not guilty, then we should go to trial and let a jury decide."